Alabaster Mom

When people tell me, "I support rescue, but I also want a puppy," I definitely understand the sentiment. Many dog lovers do both - raise a puppy and also adopt an older dog later on. I often tell people, "I think everyone should raise a puppy from the ground up at least once." Well, unless you're a cat person, I guess. Cat people are excused from this assignment. I have indeed raised a puppy from scratch. Lucy Annabel came to us back in 1998, right after we bought our house. We lost her to cancer when she was 8 1/2. Oh, how I loved that dog. I still miss her. She was my sidekick. My right-hand girl. We also adopted three dogs over time: Karl Lee (who was Lucy's contemporary), Gideon, and Gretchen. We've also fostered countless dogs.  Some of those dogs were puppies, which is what caused me to adopt the mantra, "I'll never have another puppy. Never." Puppies wear out their welcome pretty darn fast. I was pretty sure I never wanted anothe...

I went to see my podiatrist today. I've been battling pain in my feet since Octoberish. After talking with a yoga instructor, I came to realize that the pain was caused by plantar fasciitis. I then made the mistake of seeking guidance from the interwebs. Plantar fasciitis is so common that virtually everyone has had it at some point. And all God's children have advice for ya. I have been trying a bunch of different things (downward dog seems to help because it stretches the feet) but I couldn't be sure what might be helping and what might be making things worse. Dr. D took x-rays and confirmed the diagnosis. He threw in some bone spurs for extra fun. Here is where things took an ugly turn.  He said this: "I want you to get some Crocs." Lord. Have. Mercy. Talk about karma. Do you know how gleefully, how relentlessly, I have mocked Crocs? He clarified that he wants me to buy the Croc slides, like these: They would mostly be for wearing around the house. ...

A couple weeks ago, I drove to a local Wells Fargo branch during my lunch break at work.  I needed to speak to a banker about closing an account. I was invited to sit in a small waiting area to wait for someone who could help me. I sat down in the standard-issue lobby chair and pulled out my phone. Because, you know, it's 2016 and no one is capable of just sitting quietly for five minutes with no stimulation whatsoever. A minute or so later, in my peripheral vision I saw an older lady walk into the bank and head towards the teller windows. She was just a few feet from me. I don't know what happened, but all at once she went ass over teakettle and was suddenly face down on the floor. I quickly shoved my phone into my purse and ran over to help. I knelt down on the floor next to her. "I think I broke my glasses - are my glasses broken?" she asked me. I could tell she was pretty upset. I leaned down and took a look at her glasses. "Don't worry, they seem fin...

Last weekend we journeyed to a resort out of town to celebrate Mr. M's 44th birthday. We usually go up there for my birthday in February, but this year we can't do that because I'll be in Virginia, visiting my delicious new niece. We didn't want to miss out on our annual trip, though, so we decided to go for my guy's birthday instead. We left work early on Friday. We had some concerns about the roads because the temperature had dropped and there was just enough precipitation to cause much iciness. My other half loaded the car while I paid a bill and adjusted our thermostat.  He had already picked up the kid from school. She was doing her part to get us out of the house by staring at her iPad. Before long, we were on the road, dropping our dog off at for boarding and then heading north to our little getaway spot. After making a couple of stops along the way, we decided that we may as well grab dinner before checking in at the resort. Because my husband can't ...

I like organization and order. I like quiet. I like being alone sometimes. But I think it's time to admit that I also like . . . just a little bit of chaos. I love having dogs there to greet me when I get home. The barking, the jumping, the enthusiasm. It doesn't matter if I was gone for five minutes or five hours - I get the same greeting either way. "OHMYGOD YOU CAME BACK! WE MUST REJOICE!" It's awfully strange not to have my Giddy greeting me at the door now. I almost said "Hi, Giddy-up" as I emerged from the garage yesterday, but then I remembered. I had but one greeter: my daughter's dog, Gretchen. For her part, Gretchen does not know what to do with herself. What do you call a boss with no underling? She bossed her brother around for years and now she has no one in her employ. She whined for several days, but she seems to be feeling a little better now. When we came home from the clinic after Giddy died, I fell into a crumpled heap in my b...

I spent my afternoon having a needle jabbed repeatedly into my calf. You know, as one does. I practiced my yoga breathing as well as I could. I listened to music. I screwed around on Facebook. I read news headlines, and thought about what my new life in Canada will be like if Trump gets elected. I thought about my Giddy. I tried not to get lost in the physical discomfort, because it's easy to do that. At times I thought, "Have I died? Walk towards the light, Claudia!" Finally, three hours later, I had what I wanted. The tattoo honors three things that are important to me:  my love for my Giddy, my love of dogs in general, and my 15 years of rescue work.  The outline is Gideon's head - the artist split it down the middle and then duplicated it for symmetry. Anyway, here 'tis.  The colors are a bit off because my, um, blood is mixed in.  But once my leg heals, the colors will be fine. I haven't decided if I want her to fill in the open spaces or just leave t...

My Gideon, Giddy, Giddy-up, Giddy Giddy Gum Drops, Gids, the Goodest Good Boy in the Whole Wide World. I miss you already. Send me a little sign and let me know that you're doing okay where you are, okay? I love you so, you goofy train wreck of a dog. My life is better because you were part of it.

Just kidding, I don't have a turntable. I had one about a million years ago and can't decide how I feel about vinyl making a comeback. My very first album (purchased when I was a wee lass) was "Glass Houses" by Billy Joel. I still have a soft spot for the song "Sometimes a Fantasy." In retrospect, I am not sure that a fourth grader should have been singing lyrics like "only you can give me satisfaction," though. I also owned "Chipmunk Punk" and "The Muppet Movie" soundtrack. That's some good stuff right there!  Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers, and meeeeeee Every year, towards the end of the year, I pen a blog post about new music I've downloaded during that year.  I usually call it something like "the blog post that no one reads."  No one except Rachel, that is. And she is wondering why I didn't post my annual list at the end of 2015. I didn't buy a lot of...